When Artie Met Tina
by abandonship
Summary: Future fic. Inspired by the model/themes of the film When Harry Met Sally. Tina agrees to give Artie a ride the summer before they head off to college and they realize the strangers they have become to each other. Appearances by other gleeks.
1. Jai Guru Deva Om

Author's Note: This is my first planned multi-chaptered story, so I hope you enjoy it. It's mostly as an exploration at what can be done with these characters after recent revelations on the show, but deeper than the show will probably ever go.

When I first met Artie it was when we were signing up for Glee. We didn't talk much, but after our auditions and first couple of rehearsals we became close to inseparable. We were the two that felt the most skimmed over in Glee. The boy in the wheelchair and the girl with the stutter. We seemed, on the outside, to be perfect for each other. To him we were perfect for each other.

Now we were standing on the curb in front of William McKinley High School some short years later staring at each other like we were strangers. It was well after graduation and the end of summer was near. His destination was along the way that mine was, so I agreed to give him a ride. He still didn't have his license. Maybe that's something he will be looking at while at college. I didn't ask.

It was a hard thing to explain to Mike, who still had some suspicion that Artie and I had unfinished business just waiting to come up and bite him in the ass. He was here now for the goodbye. I stopped staring at Artie and turned to him and gave him a kiss.

"I love you," I said with a smile. He kissed me back. It wasn't a big deal, I said to myself. We were both going to the same college soon. But Artie looming there as a blur behind Mike seemed to be a reminder that things don't always work out, especially during a big change. I continued to kiss him and wrapped my arms around his torso.

There was a cough and I realized it was Artie waiting for us to finish kissing. "I'll call you as soon as I get there. Maybe even earlier." Mike nodded before kissing the tip of my nose.

I turned back to Artie. He had moved to open the car door on the passenger's side and transferred inside.

"Oh, right," I said sheepishly, taking his chair and storing it in the back where he had already put his other stuff. Once I was in the front seat I realized that this could be a really awkward car ride and I had no conversation topics in my head. It was strange to think about. We were really close once. Sometimes I used to ache for the time before romantic feelings got involved. He did most of the talking because my secret about my stutter had kept me back, but back then I wouldn't have gotten mad at him for being distracted by Halo. I might have still wanted to punch him for making me watch the same movie over and over, but still.

"So...you're heading to Chicago?" I asked after some silence.

"My dad's there for work and stuff," he says simply. "I wanted to be with him for the next few weeks and then we'll head to New York City for college. My mom didn't want me to go, so I asked you when I saw you were going to Wisconsin. I didn't think you'd actually agree, but it was worth a shot. So, uh, thanks."

I can't really put my finger on it, but Artie seems strange. He seems sad or bitter or something. Come to think of it, he seemed to become more and more like that as time went by. Another thing that made him different from the Artie I once called a best friend was his attire. He was not quite as nerdy in his clothing choices and no glasses rested on his nose either, a move he instigated at the beginning of senior year. He was just in a simple t-shirt and jeans. I had to admit, he looked good.

"Uh...sure, Artie. So, New York City for college? It's funny, it seems like a lot of us Glee kids are heading in that direction."

"Yeah. I'm going to the New York City College of Technology for, at the moment, Entertainment Technology, I think. There's a couple of things I'm looking at though."

"Sounds ambitious!"

"And it's the hell out of Lima." There was his bitter tone again, followed by another silence.

"Uh...Mike and I are going to New York for school too. We're going to NYU. Rachel is too, as you know, since she announced it a lot during Glee. Mike and I have set our sights on Tisch for Performance Studies and...Dance." I said the last part carefully, not knowing if it would be awkward. That felt like such a long time ago.

He didn't seem to miss a beat. He didn't really say anything for a while until he asked me why I was going to Wisconsin. I lamely told him I was visiting my aunt.

"So...Mike seemed well," he commented after clearing his throat.

"Yeah, he's good. Really seems to know what he wants to do in life," I said with a smile.

"And you?"

The question surprised me. "Well, I know I want to do something involving the arts. I feel like I'm heading in the right direction. You?"

He shrugged. "It's good to finally head out to the college you always hear about in high school." He didn't go into further detail and it appeared that the conversation was over.

Later he told me we hardly knew anything about each other outside of Glee anymore. He asked me what happened to us. I knew the answer, but I wasn't sure he really wanted to hear it.

I used to sit in Artie's room on his bed while he strummed the guitar. He liked to play a lot of Beatles. One song he played and sang a lot was "Across the Universe." Y'know,_ Nothing's gonna change my world_. He would sing that line over and over as if trying to make sure it was true. But what happened to us was Artie let everything change his world.

Maybe he never really changed and I was just oblivious to it in the beginning, but ever since we tried to patch things up after stuttergate, he had changed, at least in my eyes, and not really for the better. Quite frankly, he was a jerk. Then he started to hang out with people he previously despised, at least to my knowledge. I personally thought that maybe the stutter reveal and dancing incident were more of a blow to his pride than he let on.

I bit my lip and wondered if I should tell him what I really thought. I settled for shrugging my shoulders. "It's high school, things change."

He made a "hmm" noise as he rested an elbow on the car door and placed his chin into his palm. He started tapping his index finger on his lips to the beat that was softly playing on the radio. Then I decided to stop side-eyeing him while driving and turned back to focusing on the road.

I thought back to when Mike and I had started dating. I was feeling neglected and there was Mike, right in front of me, offering something new. He made me want to be wild, something that I thought was always inside waiting to come out. It was totally different from how I felt with Artie.

Suddenly Artie laughed lightly, his hand curling over his mouth.

"What?" I asked, eager to know what had caused his amusement and hoping it could break the ice between us.

"I was just thinking...this is kind of, but not really, similar to this movie I saw my mom watching once, where two strangers go on a road trip together and then never expect to see each other again after, but eventually do. It was called, ah, _When Harry Met Sally_."

"Oh, I know that one. Mike and I watched it once."

"Oh, now I feel lame for admitting that I watched it with my mother."

"You _watched _it _with_ your mother? I thought you _saw_ her watching it," I teased him.

"Uh, well, I joined her," he shrugged with a roll of his eyes, "for a bit."

"Didn't that get a little awkward though? I mean...like, during the orgasms and stuff or whatever," I stuttered in the awkwardness. It was strange, almost like we had gone back in time and were awkward buddies again. _Almost_.

"Yes," Artie said with a poker face. It reminded me of how hilarious his faces could be. "Nah, it's not really _that_ bad to watch with your mother. I may have actually cried. Don't tell anyone that though."

"Aw, it's okay, Harry," I said while laughing, not thinking about how it may be kind of awkward to imply that Artie was the Harry to my Sally.

Then Artie looked at me with a genuine smile. He stretched his back a bit and placed his hands behind his head before paraphrasing the movie.

"So, Sally, we have a longish drive ahead of us, why don't you tell me the story of your life?"

It was then that I realized that even back then when I was close to Artie, we still didn't know that much about each other. He never let me tell him my side.


	2. I See You Driving Around Town

Author's Note: Chapter Two is in Artie's POV now. I struggled a bit with this chapter about how much I wanted revealed to him from Tina's chapter and what I wanted to be going on with him, but I think I got it down well, so I hope you enjoy it. :) Thanks for the reviews.

* * *

When I first met Tina she was really shy and subdued, but also seemed to have a wild side too, as I calculated from her audition choice of "I Kissed a Girl." I instantly liked her. When we were working on "Proud Mary," it was my power week and I finally got the guts to ask her out. And after that everything seemed to keep turning into shit. Regardless of our ups and downs, I saw she had a lot of power that just hadn't been released yet.

She let freaking Mike Chang bring that power out of her. I wanted to know how he did it.

"Well?" I asked after a few moments of her ignoring my question.

"Uh...I'll steal Sally's answer and say that I don't have a life story yet." I saw her mouth curve into a smile and her head sway a little like she thought her answer was clever. She's right, it was cute.

"You are a very happy and optimistic person," I observed. _I _knew that before Mike Chang, of course.

"Uh...thanks," she said like I was crazy.

"What? Don't you think so?"

"Sure, I guess, but I have a dark side too. You know that. You know, gothic side, or whatever. How do you know that I think I don't I have a life story yet isn't because my life so far has been so gray and boring?" She rose her eyebrows at me.

"Nah, you're too bubbly and sunshiney for that."

"Wow, way to ruin my goth image, Abrams."

The truth was that she wasn't really "goth" anymore. Like me, she changed a little bit between junior year and now. She still loved black and colored her hair, but it wasn't so drastic. Right now her hair was pulled back in a lazy bun with bits of pink popped out in between the rubber bands.

The summer before this one was when my transformation really started. I got contacts because I wanted to start swimming more and they made other activities I started up again easier too. Then while hanging with Puck one afternoon smoking cigs he asked me why I had such a fondness for sweater vests and I realized I didn't know. Puck took it upon himself to try to make me "cool." Apparently even after all my tutoring and our general friendship, I still wasn't cool.

When my dilemma came up about reaching my dad I thought of asking Puck for a ride, but then I thought that I still didn't trust him enough to go out of state with him by myself.

"Do you want to stop somewhere for lunch?" Tina snapped me out of my reverie. "There's this place right here, it's an all day breakfast place."

"Uhhhh, I love breakfast food," I said excitedly.

"I know," she said softly, while pulling into the parking lot. I reached into my pocket and brought out the handicapped parking pass.

"So, topic to discuss while we munch? _Your_ life story," she said while bringing my wheelchair over to the car door.

"What? That is so not fair, I asked you first," I said while getting myself in my chair and pulling my legs over onto the foot rest. "Plus, you don't want to hear mine. Mine's a dark tale full of emo storms of emo-ness."

"First of all, you're a dork. Second of all, we're not going to get into a debate about who has the darkest side like they do in the movie are we?"

"Hey, you're the one bringing up the life story thing again." I rolled up to the door that she was holding open for me and signaled to the waitress that there were two of us. The restaurant was only slightly filled up with people. There was a sweet smell of syrup that filled my nostrils and lifted my mood up a little more.

"Alright, modified question then," Tina reached our table and began to move one of the chairs out of the way. "What do _you_ think happened between us?"

She hesitated as she placed a hand on the chair. Her back was to me and her head was only slightly turned back towards me. I could see a slight sparkle above her eye from her make up. She was so pretty. I mentally slapped myself.

"And make sure to think about what you say before you say it, Abrams" she said, adding my last name again in an almost scolding way. "You have another three hours to go in that car with me."

Okay, so I could tell she was serious about the question. "What, are you implying that I don't think before I speak?"

"You don't though," she pointed out bluntly.

I looked up and scratched my chin as if thinking and then nodded approvingly. "Fair enough. Thank you, Ms. Tina Cohen-Chang, for bringing me this new enlightenment."

She laughed and dragged the chair to the wall and sat down in the one across from the empty spot. I rolled up to join her. "I forgot how funny you can be, Artie."

"Well, can't blame you for forgetting."

"Don't start getting a big head now."

"Right," I nod before opening my menu. I was definitely in an omelet mood. After we order I find that she is scrutinizing me.

"So? Are you going to ignore the question now?" she asks.

"What? About what happened to us?"

She looked down at the cup of coffee that had been brought over a couple of minutes ago, still steaming. As she started adding sugar into it I noticed the sparkle on her eyelids again and my stomach flip flopped.

"I feel like you need to give an explanation more than I do." She took her spoon and began to stir without looking up at me.

"You broke up with me."

My words seemed to drop on the table like a rock when she didn't respond. She bit her lip like she wanted to say something which made me think I had done the talking without thinking thing. It was an honest answer though.

"What? You want to say something."

She started looking me over again which made me uncomfortable. "Nothing...it's just, you're so unrecognizable from just over a year ago, and yet, in some ways you are exactly the same."

What the hell? "Uh, ok."

Our food came then and she spread a napkin over her lap while mumbling her apology. I just brushed it off, but it became awkward and once again we had to break the ice. We eventually began talking about our win at Nationals—finally!—this year, which is always awesome and gets us excited. We had never talked about it like this either, like friends.

It was disappointing when things got uncomfortable again when we began driving again. It started when I asked if I could roll down the window and have a quick smoke.

"That's bad for your voice you know."

"I don't do it often. Just when I'm...stressed." Well, it was the truth. I watched the smoke as it drifted out the window. I thought of when Puck and I would get together for a smoke and man-to-man talks.

"Are you stressed now?"

Yes.

"Eh, we're about to start college in a few weeks. And also, despite all we've been through, we're going to be separating in a few hours for who knows how long." Well, that was half of the truth this time.

"It is pretty scary," she agreed. "But also really exciting. I mean, as you said, it's out of Lima. It's in _New York City_," and then she began to sing, "Concrete jungle where dreams are made of..."

I brought my hand down on the open window so that the cigarette was outside of the car, and turned to her with a smile. It was nice to hear her sing, but that brought back memories that didn't really make me feel any better.

"You can be anyone you want now. No one is going to know your history if you don't want them to," she said brightly.

"You really are sunshine," I snorted. I did like that idea though. Sometimes it was exhausting being Artie Abrams.

When we got to Chicago we weren't really sure how to act with each other. I settled in my chair once more, up on the curb, and turned to face her. "Uh, so, have fun with your aunt or whatever. And good luck at college."

"You too," she said as she tucked some hair behind her ears and prepared to bend and hug me. "Maybe I'll see you around there."

"Maybe." As she embraced me I got the overwhelming feeling that not enough was said, and tried to say it in the hug. Regardless of how we had barely talked much over the last year or so, she was Tina. _My _Tina. _Mike's _Tina. I squeezed harder, surprising her.

"Ok, well," she said as she untangled herself from me. "See you, Artie."

"See you."

I was about to get to the next order of business when she turned toward me again.

"Also, for what it's worth, I like the glasses on you better." She smiled as if I wasn't looking at her like I didn't understand what she was saying. The last thing I saw before she drove away was the sparkle on her eyelids.

I turned away and took out my phone to contact my Dad.

"Artie?" the receiver on the phone said incredulously. "Does your mother know you're here?"

"Uh, sort of," I swallow.

"Shit, Artie. She's probably worried and that's not going to help us right now."

"I couldn't spend another few weeks in Lima," I defended myself, but even I was questioning myself now. "I came with Tina and told her that. She'll be okay with that."

"Tina's with you?" He sounded surprised.

"Uh, not anymore."

"I'll meet you at the elevator."

As I got in the elevator I began to worry that he would call Mom. My parents weren't really terrible, but we have all been on edge lately and Dad's requirement to come to Chicago came just at the right time. Regardless of what he ended up doing, I felt much better just reaching him.

The door opened and he was standing there with his hands in his pockets of his suit, no phone in sight. We greeted each other before he lead me back to his room where I knew I was about to get interrogated with questions, just like my therapist used to do.

My dad sat in a chair and just looked at me with a look that said I should already know what he was going to ask and should just start talking. When I didn't answer he asked me what I was doing here.

I groaned. "I don't know. I want to get out of Lima so bad but at the same time I don't. So I just...came here."

"You're nervous about college. That's completely normal. Lot's of people freak out over it. Maybe not to the point that they would travel four or so hours while their mother worries at home..."

"I've seen a _lot_ of Mom, but not a lot of you," I said sheepishly. There was silence while we both struggled to deal with the what I implied just hanging in the air.

"I see," he said as he leaned back in his chair. "I'll talk to your mother and make sure you can stay." I breathed a sigh of relief.

"So you came with Tina huh?" My dad asked, looking hopeful, which wasn't good. "How is she?"

"She's good Dad. Real good."

I sat back and looked outside his room window as he went to sort things out with mom. I thought about joining forces with Puck and dating Brittany. I thought about how I pushed and pushed my feelings about Tina down and away and for the first time in a year they were finding there way back out. For the first time I was admitting to myself that I had no idea what the hell I was doing and never did.


	3. What's It Like in New York City?

Author's Note: The last month of school was crazy, so I have had very little time to update until now. Thanks for the reviews and hope you enjoy!

* * *

_**Five Years Later**_

It was early winter and a couple of girl friends of mine and I walked down the streets of New York to check out a new restaurant and bar. It was semi-fancy. There were tables all around a smallish stage in the front with fantastic lighting. Shortly after we sat down a band came out on stage and began to blare. Then I heard a voice that took a few minutes to place, but after that it was unmistakable.

"_Maybellene, why can't you be true?_

_Oh Maybellene, why can't you be true?_

_You've started back doin' the things you used to do..."_

"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed before I could stop myself. It didn't take nearly as long to place the face of the singer. My friends stared at me expectantly. "That guy singing..."

"An old flame?" my friend Anna asked flirtatiously.

"Uh...yeah..." I said biting my lip.

"The one in the wheelchair?" Anna asked bending her head so that she could see the stage better.

"He's cute," my other friend Marissa commented while sipping her drink.

I looked up at the stage more closely and was almost startled to see that Artie looked like...well, old Artie. He had glasses on. They were bigger than the ones he used to wear but were still similar. He was wearing a grey suit with his white shirt buttoned all the way up and a red bowtie. He sat a little to the left of the stage with the band and had a shortened microphone stand in front of him that he had one hand on.

I hadn't seen him since our drive to Chicago together. Well, at least not in _person_. In this day and age there are so many ways to keep in contact. None of us Glee kids could really be strangers, at least for a while. The truth was that it turned out more like what Mr. Schue said to us after our first Regionals loss. We would struggle to remember.

"He was in the glee club with me," I said, turning back to my friends before I could once again reminisce about the early days of Glee. "We dated for a little while..."

"What's his name?" Marissa asked.

"Artie."

"So, what happened?" Anna began her interrogation. I sighed.

"We just...grew apart. He wasn't...what I expected for a boyfriend." Yeah. I'll just leave it at that. I sipped my drink.

"What'd he do?"

I looked at my two friends. Anna had been my college roommate in sophomore year and I met Marissa through Mike. They helped me through a lot of our issues and I considered myself close to them, but I didn't tell them much about Glee or Artie. Especially not about my stutter. I was always nervous that people would think I was crazy or react the way Artie did.

"Guys, I really don't want to talk about this."

They looked at each other, shrugged, and took more sips from their drinks.

"So...does that mean you're not going to reunite with him?" Anna asked.

"I don't know. I guess I could say he did well with the song." I looked up at the stage again. He had finished the song and he was acknowledging the applause for him with a nod of his head and his version of a bow.

Honestly, I was pretty curious about him. He was leaving the stage though and I had no idea if he was performing again or anything, so I shrugged. "He probably wouldn't recognize me anyway."

I was proven wrong when I bumped into him a little while later while leaving the restaurant. It was slightly crowded and I hadn't seen him come next to me and I accidentally hit him with my swinging purse.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" I said turning towards him, thinking I had hit someone's arm when I heard the "ow!"

"No problem, Tina" he said with a chuckle as he realigned his glasses. "I was hoping to catch you on the way out! Long time no see, girl!" He smiled at me.

For some reason I thought it was really weird. Eery, even. It was like we were back in time. He was wearing a greenish jacket, a scarf, and gloves. I couldn't tell which Artie I was looking at—old or new.

"Artie! This is just so...it's great to see you," I was so flustered from hitting him in the face and from how there was a bit of a crowd trying to get past us. I nudged my friends over farther inside so we could step away from everyone. "Artie...this is Anna and Marissa. They're my friends from college."

"Yo," Artie said without a beat. Anna and Marissa looked at me before giggling quietly.

"Artie, please don't tell me you do jazz songs and then go around saying 'Yo wassup homies?'" I teased. "Speaking of which, I'm surprised. I didn't think of you as much of a jazz singer."

He rose an eyebrow up at me. "To be fair, Chuck Berry has a rock and roll flare in his songs."

"I mean...you were usually...rappy, I guess, in high school. The last thing I saw you doing was Dynamite by Taio Cruz." That was in a video someone posted on his facebook wall some years ago. Anna and Marissa began giggling again.

"Oh, so you saw that. My girlfriend at the time posted that just to spite me," he laughed. "Calling her my girlfriend to you guys is my revenge. She'd sock me right in the face if she were here."

"'Maybellene' was lovely, Artie," I said after laughing a little. "How'd you get the gig?"

"Oh, I have been helping the management here figure out how to make this place more accessible. I came closer to the center of the city not too long ago after graduating. Now they just let me sing or play here occasionally. To help a little with the bills and stuff. Nice people."

I smiled at him. This reminded me how he really could be a great and charitable guy sometimes. It was just the other times where he made you forget that about him.

"That is so cool," Marissa commented before I could say anything. "Where did you graduate from?"

"New York City College of Technology. I managed to get some education about accessibility and all that worked in for my Entertainment Technology major."

It was evident then that Marissa was going to attempt to flirt a little with him. Anna and I awkwardly let them have their fun for a few minutes. I could tell that even after five years Artie was not much better at flirting, but he didn't say anything that induced eye-rolling.

"Well, it was nice running into you again, Artie. Looking sharp in your glasses too," we were standing there for a while so I started to wrap it up.

"You too," he said while turning a little more towards me. "But you haven't been very vocal about yourself. How have you been?"

"Oh, you know." I shrugged. "Mike and I are still together, trying to make our way up here." The truth was, we were going through some rough patches, but I definitely did not want to get into it with Artie. Thankfully, he got the hint and didn't press me further.

When I got back to my place I flopped down on my bed and wondered if I should call Mike. It might be weird to bring the meeting up with him especially when we are having problems, but I thought maybe that the eeriness of it all would wear off if I talked to someone also from the past.

"Hey, baby" Mike's voice came through the receiver. He sounded somewhat surprised. I didn't blame him. Fighting wasn't exactly new between us and he knew when I needed my space, but this silence between us was a little longer than usual.

"You'll never guess who I ran into tonight at that new place." It was probably stupid to begin the conversation this way, but I didn't know what else to say. I just got to the point.

He didn't answer.

"I saw Artie. He's in the city now. He was singing."

"Do you want me to come over?"

I smiled and looked down at my free hand. My fingers were fiddling with the stitching on my bed cover. Mike always wanted to come to my side when he thought something might be wrong.

"Sure."

We didn't live that far apart, considering that we were originally supposed to live together. Soon I was opening my bright red door for him. And when I opened the door to his face I realized how much I had missed him. For some reason I burst into tears.

Mike's smile quickly disappeared and he latched on to me so fast he could have been a super hero.

"Are you okay? Is this about Artie? Do you have feelings for him again?"

I almost laughed, despite myself, because of how fast he was talking and how concerned he sounded. It was nothing. _I _didn't even know why I was crying.

"No! Yes! I mean, I don't know..." I pulled away from him and wiped at my tears. I sat at the island in the middle of my kitchen. The truth was that there was something irritating about the whole reunion.

"It's not like in the movies, where you see an ex-boyfriend after a long time and all the sudden you want them to sweep you off your feet again." I said after regaining my composure. Mike had sat down in front of me and handed me a tissue.

"It's been five years since I drove him to Chicago. And before then we only really bickered a bit and then Brittany and Puck took up all his time. He didn't seem interested in me anymore. There's not really much there to stir up old feelings."

Mike rose one eyebrow. "So...there was nothing?" From his expression I could tell that he didn't believe me.

"Well...I don't know. It was _strange,_" I said while recollecting the meeting in my mind. "Last time I saw him he was in jeans, a t-shirt, not glasses, and was smoking cigarettes. Tonight he looked like he used to. He was performing, so he dressed nice. It was like he was doing a Glee performance again."

"I can understand that being freaky. Like a ghost or something."

"I was with Marissa and Anna so I didn't ask him too many questions or mention the car ride. He started to flirt with Marissa a little. She seemed to like him. She always liked nerdy guys."

Mike gave me an inquiring look. "Did that bother you?"

"The flirting? No! I mean...not in a 'Hands off, bitch, he's mine!' kind of way..."

"Like you would be if someone were flirting with me?" he teased while giving me a cheesy smile.

I laughed. "Of course. You're not going to test that theory now, are you?" I gave him a hard look.

"Not if you're going to look at me like that. You're scary!"

I playfully shoved him. "But, I don't know...I did find myself getting turned off by the whole thing. The Artie and Marissa thing, I mean. Something still bugs me about it."

"Is this about not wanting Marissa with him?"

"No, not really. I mean, I guess it's like..." I groaned in frustration and put my elbows on the table with my chin in my hands. "I keep thinking about when he was my boyfriend, and then when he was Brittany's boyfriend, and when we were in the car ride together, and I can't help but wonder if there's something wrong with me."

Mike clearly did not understand what I was saying.

"I mean, he made an effort to be nice to Brittany. Remember that Christmas? And tonight he wasn't that bad either. But when we rode together? He still seemed oblivious to the reasons why I broke up with him. Why wasn't he nice and romantic to me? Why did he ignore me? Was I not good enough for him? It just had me wondering if he even liked me enough in the first place."

Mike took my hand. "Tina, you became a very confident woman. Even as early as junior year in high school you broke out of your shell. Maybe once or twice you gave in, but in the end you always stuck to your guns. Why does it matter what Artie thinks of you?"

I took my hand away. "Because...I really liked him. I cared a lot about him and I did so much for him. To come to the realization that all that might have been easily brushed under the rug for him really sucks." I pouted.

"Well, to be fair, you _were_ taken at the time he hooked up with Brittany. Maybe he just didn't want to mess with us."

I smiled. "That's a nice thought." I leaned over the table to kiss him. "You're right. I shouldn't be letting Artie bother me."

"It's nice to be talking to you again," Mike commented as we kissed again.

"Yes, it is. I'm sorry about all the drama I've been pushing on you lately. How about for tonight, we forget it all?"

Our kisses at the table progressed as the night trudged on and we soon became wrapped into each other in my bed. There was something I still couldn't shake off and forget though. I kept wondering about what if I gave Artie the story of my life instead of staying quiet during the car ride. Artie sometimes left me so tongue-tied and frustrated as if I really did have a stutter.

In the morning I found Mike still here making us both a cup of Asian tea.


	4. Once Was Young and StarryEyed

Author's Note: Sorry I take so long on these. It takes a while to figure out everything I want to happen and if I'm striding too far from the When Harry Met Sally concept. Thank you if you are sticking with the story! In this one, we see a fellow glee character from the past instead of more of the OCs!

* * *

I went up the ramp that led me directly to my destination on stage. I carefully brought over the microphone stand as I scanned the dining area below me. I had already performed once tonight and did the exact same thing when I was up here an hour ago. Now the restaurant was more crowded than earlier as it was later in the night, about 8:30 pm. There still was no familiar face with sparkly eye make up in any of those seats.

It had been one week since I saw Tina there while singing 'Maybellene'. I had nearly messed up the lyrics as I noticed her mid-song. She had her hair curled and it had no color in it. She looked classy in her winter wear. I knew I had to catch her before she left.

I thought maybe she might come back now that she knew that I performed here, so every time I performed I found myself looking for her. That wasn't _too _pathetic, was it?

Then again, maybe she wouldn't come back. She was reserved during our short reacquaintance and five years is a long time. In truth, time went really fast for me after getting out of the high school hell hole. That night I saw Tina though? It felt like the longest time in the world. I had partied a bit, I got drunk, I got my driver's license, I got a new chair, I watched my parents get remarried, I fell in love, I fell out of love. And now I had seen my ex. Who was still with Mike.

I looked for her face again. Nada. I refocused my attention on performing. It only made me think of Glee though, which made me feel a little guilty because I had fallen behind on staying in contact with most of them, even if I did go back to Lima for breaks for the first two years before my parents moved to New York. Brittany, Puck, Finn, Sam, Kurt. I rolled back down after the singing and stole a table for myself and ordered wine. I tried to remember where things started to change, again.

An image flashed in my mind of Tina driving, telling me about how college could be a new start. I guess I had taken that more to heart than I realized, albeit, slowly.

"Artie?" someone's voice caused the image to disappear. I looked up. It was Carter, the restaurant owner. "There's a girl here asking about doing a duet with you. She says she knows you."

I perked up, kind of like how a dog does when their owner picks up a stick. I couldn't help thinking it might be Tina. She wanted to do a duet! With _me_!

The girl that came up around Carter though, was not Tina. It was Rachel Berry. My mouth dropped open, I was too surprised to even feel disappointment.

She seemed to notice my shock, and her lip quivered as she came towards me and I felt bad. "Rachel! What are you doing here?"

She sat across from me and took her napkin, neatly placing it on her lap. "Good, so you remember my name." It looked like she glared at me for a second. "Tina told me you were here."

"Really?" Tina was talking to people about me? And _Glee_ people? I hesitated. "Did she tell Mike?"

"Probably," she answered simply while she looked at the menu placed in front of her. "Anyway, I am only here out of curiosity about a fellow gleek who failed to respond to all my holiday email cards and facebook bumper stickers, not to play messenger between you two." She called over a server and ordered a dessert. "So. How have you been, Artie?"

I just blinked at her, then took a sip of my wine. "Well, uh, I graduated."

Now she just stared at me. She rolled her eyes and pouted. "Right, obviously you wouldn't want to talk to me!"

"What? I mean—" I looked at her confused. "Give me a break, I just saw two people I haven't seen in years. One of them I knew better than the other so it's distracting..."

Rachel leaned on her elbows. "Artie, you don't know Tina any better than you know me."

I scoffed, tossing a dismissive hand her way. "Uh, she was my _girlfriend_."

She smiled like she was teasing me. "And?"

"And what?"

"What do you know about Tina?"

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. Unbelievable. "She was shy, which caused her to fake a stutter. She likes art, poetry, dance, and black stuff. She is an only child in a modest home, her mom is a computer programmer and her dad owns a bookstore. I got a lot of my own books from that store when we hung out."

Rachel, again, appeared to be teasing me with her expression. "And what do you know about me?"

"You can sing, and you can be really bossy and annoying about it. You send people to inactive crack houses. You like uh, Broadway and stuff. You have gay dads."

"_Thank you_, Artie," she said through clenched teeth. "But I think I'll leave it to you then, to compare those two answers?"

I blinked. "What?"

She just sighed. "Unbelievable. _Men_."

"_What_?"

"You're hopeless. Anyway, let's get back to catching up. I see you look more...Artie-like than you did senior year at McKinley."

I narrowed my eyes at her for a few seconds before shrugging and tipping my wine glass up over just a little bit with my finger. "I started wearing glasses again shortly after driving with Tina. The rest is more because I want to look presentable now that I am looking for jobs and all."

"It's nice. Why did you start wearing glasses again?"

"Because Tina said she liked them."

She smiled. "Now _that's_ the Artie I like. More than the football jock Artie."

"Football was awesome," I said while crossing my arms. Not entirely true, but it did make me feel like one of the guys for once. I never thought I'd be a jock. And I had actually felt like I might have been over Tina too. And then I started dating Brittany.

"Have you heard from anyone else lately? Puck, Brittany?" Rachel said as if she had entered my mind.

I shook my head no. Brittany and I broke up shortly after senior year started, and she was still at McKinley when most of us went to college. I wasn't sure what either of them were doing now.

"Puck and I kept contact for a while and I last talked to him not too long ago, but for the most part I think I tried to ignore him. I think I was realizing I didn't want his crowd to be my scene...or something. I don't know. What about you? You on Broadway yet?"

"I have actually made an attempt at keeping up with New Directions, I talked to Brittany last week. She has one year of college left. Puck went to community college for a while, he's now working." She was trying to make me feel bad, but I think she felt better that it wasn't just i_her/i_ I kept out of contact with.

"Okay, I get it. I'm a horrible person, a hermit, don't care enough about Glee, blah blah blah," I said as her dessert showed up. Damn her. Now I wanted something. I looked at the menu and ordered a chocolate brownie thing. "It was five years ago."

Rachel took a bite of her dessert while looking thoughtful. Her fork lingered in her mouth for a few seconds. "Artie, do you remember that celebration we had after our Nationals win?"

"Sure. I did the lead on the number we did..."

She nodded. "Uh huh. Do you remember that song?"

"'2012,' which is kinda cheesy when I look back on it now." Whatever, Mr. Schue picked it. We were halfway through 2012 then. I smiled a little when I thought about when we talked about the end of the world and we acted like it was going to be when we graduated and Glee ended for us for good. I had had a suspicion we were going to be abducted by aliens soon enough.

"Do you remember the lyrics? _It doesn't matter as long as we got each other_." It was slightly weird to hear her sing again, even if it was quietly.

"Okay, seriously, I get it. Why do you care anyway? We only really seemed to be a group when we performed. Or when a situation came up like Kurt's. And you always complained about being under appreciated."

She smirked a little at the mention of Kurt, or maybe the under appreciated thing, and then looked serious again. "Maybe that was because we never took in what we were singing about and when we came off the stage, we forgot."

I didn't say anything, just dug into my dessert that had arrived.

"I remember another song you had a lead on," she said while smiling. Then she began to sing again. "_If there is a load you have to bear, that you can't carry..._"

I rose an eyebrow. "Yes, I remember that."

"It was for Quinn. Remember that?"

Quinn being pregnant seemed to be so long ago, like in a different universe. Or like it never happened. Maybe she had a point about forgetting things. "Are you implying that I need someone to lean on right now?" I laughed, intending it to be a joke.

"Tina might, soon."

I stopped laughing, as she looked pretty serious. "What?" Before she could answer though, Carter came back and asked us about doing a duet. I looked at Rachel, she smiled and nodded. We both knew what song we would do.

It was weird getting ready to sing with Rachel. I had never really done it, except for some small parts. It was even weirder that it was a song I had done before, but previously with Mercedes. But we sounded damn good together, I admit. I called Mercedes the next day.

I couldn't help looking for Tina once more while on stage, especially after what Rachel said. She had only confused me even more as to why she came here. It seemed to me that she did come for a reason that had to do with Tina and me, not matter what she said.

"I see you keep looking for her. She may come back, she may not," was all she said when I tried to ask her after we performed. She stayed a little longer, even though it was really late. We talked a little more about our time at college. I told her about how I started working here. She said she had a great time at NYU, occasionally with Tina and Mike. She told me about how her separation from Finn was less hard then she thought it would be. They both wanted different things. They were different people.

Maybe Tina and I were like that too. But I couldn't shake the hope that she might come back from my mind.

I came in to the restaurant every night and usually ended up performing whether I had planned to or not for the next month and never saw her or Rachel.

So much for keeping in contact, Rachel.

I found out later though that pretty much all her emails went automatically into my spam folder. Whoops.


	5. Doing the Things You Used to Do

Took longer to do this than I thought, but I have idea for the next few chapters already set. The problem is that I go back to school this week! I'll try to be faster though, because everything that I've been hinting at thus far needs to be revealed now. Again, thanks for the reviews!

* * *

"Damn it!" I cursed as I dropped a can that I was reaching for while shopping for groceries. There was a smack as it hit the floor and rolled away from me. I sucked in my breath as it bumped against a wheel. I didn't look up as a small gloved hand picked it up.

"Hi Tina," Artie said, lifting the can to give it back to me. I could tell he was surprised to see me, but I wasn't sure if he saw me earlier and was just now approaching me.

"Hi..." I said, plopping back down on my heels from being on my tip-toes. I suddenly became nervous. I expected him to be mad at me, but then I realized we never made plans or promises the last time we met. It was February now. It had been almost three months. I slowly walked over to him and thanked him as I took the can.

"How are you, Tina? Long time no see," he says with an amused smile.

"I'm doing alright, Artie. Yourself?"

"Good, good." He scanned the shelves in front of him. "How's Mike?"

I bit my lip and tossed the can back and forth in my hands. "We, uh, we broke up."

His hand lingered over something he wanted to take off the shelf. Instead of taking it, he turned towards me. "I'm sorry...that sucks. If it helps, I'm on the market too."

"I'm not 'on the market,' Artie." I sounded a little more annoyed than I intended, but I was tired.

"Did you find a new guy?" he asked.

"Nope."

To my surprise, he didn't say anything else. He went back to inspecting the shelf, taking things and placing them in one of those eco-friendly bags that hung from one of the handles on his chair.

"You still have that singing gig?" I asked, hesitantly.

"Sure do," he said, looking at me again. "I'm good friends with the owners and bring general awesomeness to the place, they wouldn't fire me." He smiled.

I jokingly rolled my eyes. "I'm sure you do." I paused, creating an awkward silence. "Um, sorry about not going back there. I was, uh, dealing with some things. Rachel said she came by and got to sing with you."

He nodded. "She came again a few weeks ago."

I came a little bit closer to him and fiddled with a box that was on the shelf. Rachel had told me about her evenings with him. I had a feeling ever since Mike came to comfort me that I should avoid Artie though, so I didn't go back with her or by myself. Looking at him now though, I wondered how many times we would run into each other. Maybe it would be good to catch up with him in a non-awkward way. Just one meeting.

"Yeah, she told me." I looked at him as he began continuing down the isle, which was not small and cramped like some other stores I had been in while in the city. "Listen, do you want to go out to lunch with me?"

He stopped and pivoted around to face me. His eyebrow was raised.

"As friends." I added quickly.

"Well, this sounds familiar," he cracked jokingly, referring to the Breadstix contest years ago where I asked him to be my duet partner.

"Is that a no?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "No-no. Um, when do you want to go?"

"Now?"

He looked over at the bag that was hanging on his chair. "Well, it looks like I'm nearly done shopping." He smiled and I smiled back. We accompanied each other to the cash registers and then to a restaurant nearby that we could get to on foot.

I wasn't sure whether I should help Artie and push him, it had been a while since I did that. He seemed alright on his own. There was some trouble in the restaurant though as it wasn't completely accessible. He asked me on the way over why I suddenly asked him out to lunch.

"So...you want to catch up with me for real this time?" He asked, echoing my answer. I could tell he was still confused, but he didn't say anything.

I nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I was kind of flabbergasted and distracted last time. It had been a long time. Plus, you seemed pretty distracted yourself." I lifted my eyes up at him knowingly while taking a sip from my cup.

He scrunched his forehead in confusion.

"You know. Flirting."

"Oh, yeah. Well." He tossed the straw wrapper he was fiddling with back on the table. "So, does this mean you'll catch up with me? You didn't really say much last time. Or the time before that." He smirked.

"You mean the car ride?"

"Yep. I asked you for the story of your life and you skillfully ignored it. Remember?"

I looked down at the napkin I had spread at my lap. "Well, I guess I don't have an excuse to use this time."

"Not really, nope." He leaned his elbows on the table and stared at me expectantly, jokingly blinking his eyes rapidly. I laughed.

"I don't know what you're expecting." I didn't continue though. I just looked at him and the memory of our first date came to the back of my mind. In the memory he was yelling at me.

"Come on, I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," he snapped me out of my thoughts. He looked at me like this was an offer I just couldn't refuse.

"Gee, where should I start? It's probably nothing compared to yours," I said sarcastically.

"You know, the basics: College, what you're doing now, you and Mike, etcetera."

"Maybe the stuff about Mike is none of your business," I said while drinking, but I almost spit it all out from laughing at his face. He looked surprised.

His head tilted as he inspected me for a second. "You know what I think? You're afraid to tell me anything."

"Oh, really?" I smiled and blinked, daring him to continue. I couldn't really tell if he was serious. Moments of bickering between us wasn't really new, they were fairly frequent back in high school after the break up.

"How do you expect us to be friends if you can't tell me anything?" His mouth curled up and he looked like he was fighting a laugh.

I laughed while chewing a fingernail, then grabbed the straw wrapper he had been playing with earlier and threw it at him. "You can be such an asshole," I said but blew my cover by laughing. "Seriously though, I don't have to tell you anything about Mike and me."

"It's because we're exes, isn't it? You know, exes can't be friends."

I rose my eyebrow at him. "I wonder why _that_ is," I said with a hint of dark humor, a smile at the edge of my mouth.

"Fair enough, fair enough," he continued as the waitress came back with our food. "All joking aside, Rachel told me when she first came by that I didn't really know you. She was talking shit, as usual, but every time you come into my life again, I realize how much I miss you. Maybe I screwed up, but I am willing to be just friends with you. To get to know you again."

I shook my head, but smiled. He could be the most clueless person I've ever met. But it was a start. I looked away and took a sip once again. Must be a nervous habit. For a minute or so the only sound was our silverware clanking as we ate.

"The break up happened two and a half weeks ago," I said, causing him to look up like a deer in the headlights, surprised that I was going to tell him something about us after all. "Mike had an opportunity for a career in LA, and I wanted to stay here."

He looked at me as if he was expecting more. "I'm sorry. Are you...alright?"

I pondered how much I should tell him. About how I screwed up. "We were together for a long time. It had its ups and downs and breaks, but still. It's hard. Really hard, if I'm honest." I laughed for some reason.

"Maybe you guys could try long distance or something?" he mumbled while sticking food in his mouth.

I shook my head. "No, I think we're done."

His eyes flickered up at me and then back down to his plate as he continued to eat.

"So, what about you?" I asked him brightly before he could ask for anymore details.

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You said if I told you about me, you'd tell me about you. So. You said you were single as well."

"I am..." He said slowly, eyeing me suspiciously. "You still haven't told me much though."

"Your turn," I said batting my eyelashes innocently. "Did you ever fall in love in college?"

His expression faltered a little and he began to twist his fork around in his hand. "I did. But she didn't love me back. It's okay though. It's all in the past." He put his fork down and smiled.

"Still, that sucks. Sorry."

We smiled at each other awkwardly and sat quietly as we waited for our bill. Suddenly, before our eyes turned away from each other, he frowned as if he was stifling a laugh. Then I started to laugh and his laugh grew and was all smiles.

"What?" I asked while laughing at him.

He squeezed his eyes shut while laughing and mouthed "I don't know." He opened his eyes and calmed down. "I don't know. It just felt kind of pathetic, I guess. Here we are, exes, five years later, talking about unrequited love."

I stared at him with an amused expression. "Well, that's what friends do right? Help each other through times like this." I grabbed my purse and took out a pen to work on calculating the bill for each of us. I tore off the top of the pen with my teeth and let the cap stay there. After writing down the tip on my receipt I looked up and saw him looking at me.

"You really think we could be friends?" He seemed skeptical, nervous, maybe even embarrassed. I took the cap out of my mouth and put it back on the pen. I thought about how I had often missed when we were friends.

"Yes. We could try."

We spent a little longer at the restaurant, eating anything we hadn't finished. When we left it was snowing, but only a little. I had to admit, it was nice walking beside him rather than behind him, which was where people were most of the time.

"I live just over there," he pointed to a place down and across the street with a gloved hand. "What about you?"

"A few blocks over, but in the same direction." We crossed the street and stopped before his building.

"Cool." He rubbed his hands together, whether from the cold or because he was nervous, I couldn't tell. "Well, you have my number now and I have yours, so we should hang out again."

"Absolutely," I said before waving and watching him go inside.

When I got back to my place, it was almost exactly like the last time we ran into each other. I dropped down on my bed and thought of Mike. Instead of calling him like last time though, I took out my Ipod Touch. I found my _West Side Story_ album and played 'Tonight.'

It was the original track, but I only heard myself singing it. I saw myself in my mind's eye singing it years ago in front of the glee club; I still had the part even after Rachel's storm out.

_Today, all day I had the feeling  
A miracle would happen  
I know now I was right_

_For here you are  
And what was just a world is a star  
Tonight_

Artie was in the group watching me, cheering me on. That was the moment when I had looked at him and realized that he was my best friend.

I had no idea if this was a good idea or not due to how he sometimes made me feel. But I really hoped it was.


End file.
